Swarens: Lewis Ferebee, leaving as IPS superintendent, says 'show is not dependent on one person'

Crispus Attucks students came back to school for the 2017-2018 school year, surprised with an enthusiastic high five rally held by 100 Black Men of Indianapolis and IPS superintendent Lewis Ferebee, Indianapolis, July 31, 2017.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar

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Lewis Ferebee is the superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools.(Photo: IndyStar file photo)Buy Photo

Still, his departure was announced less than a month after voters approved $272 million in new bonds, mostly to increase teachers' salaries. It also comes at a time when community leaders are concerned about the school board's direction. Two critics of the district's creation of semi-autonomous innovation schools and its cooperation with charter operators were elected to the board in November.

Ferebee said his goal is to have the board approve the increase in teachers' pay before Jan. 31, when he's set to leave for the nation's capital. Board President Michael O'Connor said he supports that timetable.

When Ferebee arrived in Indy in 2013, he took over leadership of a district that had long struggled with low graduation rates, poor test scores and a weak reputation in the community. District leaders at the time strongly resisted Indianapolis' growing network of charter schools and rebuffed reform advocates' efforts to change the culture in the city's schools.

Ferebee changed that. He built partnerships with The Mind Trust and other organizations pushing for innovation in how schools are organized and managed. He embraced the Indy Chamber's review of the district's finances and acted on recommendations to streamline operations and to sell off unneeded property.

Traditionalists in and outside the district balked, but Ferebee's openness to collaboration has helped to transform IPS' reputation. The district's future, for the first time in decades, is seen as promising.

"He's been a strong leader," said O'Connor, an Eli Lilly executive who joined the IPS Board in 2015. "He's worked hard to understand the community."

O'Connor said the plan to find Ferebee's replacement will be set in January, after the new members join the board. An interim superintendent likely will be appointed to manage the district before a permanent hire is made.

"A part of what we'll want to do as a board is to make sure we don't lose any momentum." O'Connor said.

Ferebee's move isn't surprising. The five-year mark is a common time frame for top-level managers to pursue new employment. In April, Ferebee's name came up as a finalist for superintendent of Los Angeles schools (he later withdrew from the search). And the move to D.C. will thrust Ferebee into a high-profile position in the nation's center of power and politics.

But it comes at an awkward time for IPS. The push for greater efficiency — including closing more schools, selling more property and making better use of the city bus system to transport students — needs to continue. The spirit of cooperation that Ferebee fostered can't be lost. The district must not be allowed to drift back into the doldrums that blocked its progress for decades.

Ferebee said he's confident that won't happen. "The show is not dependent on one person," he said.

And he noted that his biggest reason for hope about the district's future also will be one of his fondest memories of his time here.

"Indianapolis is a city that boxes above its weight," he said. "When we put our mind to something, we get it done. I'll be forever grateful for the opportunity to serve this city."

Contact Swarens at tim.swarens@indystar.com; friend him on Facebook at Tim Swarens; follow him on Twitter @tswarens.

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